C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O d6 5.d3)

I am still going through my team match games from Chess.com and this one was played in a team match called 3.) 1/1/2016. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016=SRETNA NOVA 2016.GODINA. It was played between MY FRIENDS International MY FRIENDS--MOJI PRIJATELJI and ISK Crvena Zvezda on 12 boards. I played on board 5 for MY FRIENDS International MY FRIENDS--MOJI PRIJATELJI and in addition to this draw, I was able to win my other game against vladoo76. The match ended with a score of 15 - 9 in our favor! While this game ended in a draw, there were few moments in the game where I could have seized a clear advantage. First of which came when my opponent played 23.Rf2. I had already a small advantage at that point, due to the inaccurate move 20.Nf3, so the combined effort of the 20th and 23rd move of vladoo76 led into a position where I was clearly better.

In the game I replied with 23...c6, which was not as good as the move 23...Nxd5. Knight can take on d5 due to the pin on the e-file. It is rather embarrassing that I did not see the obvious way to win a pawn. That being said my move is maybe good enough for a clear advantage. Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT at depth 37 seems to think so. Vladoo76 continued with 24.dxc6 and then I chose the wrong capture, I took on c6 with the pawn when I ought to have captured the pawn with my queen. The next moment in the game where my opponent started to go towards a clearly inferior position was seen when vladoo76 chose to play 30.Qc4.

Moving the queen off the b-file enabled me to play 30...Qb6+ without having the possibility for my opponent to trade queens. It was actually the best reply and the continuation 31.Kh1 Ng4 was the right idea, but then I deviated from the correct plan when I replied to 32.h3 with the move 32...Nf6. I should have played 32...Nf2+, which was the logical continuation for the sequence of moves started by 30...Qb6+. My 32nd move was not completely awful, I should still be preferred in the position, but the game would likely end up being a draw. We did end up agreeing to a draw a few moves later, but unfortunately for me, I did not understand how bad the last move 35.Qa6 actually was.

It turns out that I was in a winning position and agreed to a draw. It was not the first time I have made a bad judgement call on a position and it definitely is not going to be the last time. The game could have continued 35...Nh5 36.Rc2 d5 37.Qd3, for instance, and vladoo76 should be clearly on the defensive side of the board.

[Event "3.) 1/1/2016. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016=SRETN"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2016.01.01"] [Round "?"] [White "vladoo76"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "1684"] [BlackElo "1806"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s)"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. d3 {C50 Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} Be6 6. Bxe6 fxe6 7. c3 (7. Bg5 Nf6 8. Nc3 Qe7 9. Nb5 O-O-O 10. Nh4 h6 11. Bd2 g5 12. Nf3 a6 13. Nc3 Na5 14. a3 Nc4 15. Bc1 Be3 16. Bxe3 Nxb2 17. Qb1 {1-0 (17) Eschweiler,C-Hirsekorn,G (737) Magdeburg 2015}) 7... Nf6 (7... Bb6 8. Ng5 Qf6 9. Qh5+ g6 10. Qh3 h6 11. Nf3 O-O-O 12. Be3 g5 13. Nbd2 Nge7 14. Nc4 Rdg8 15. Nxb6+ axb6 16. d4 g4 17. Qh4 Qg6 18. Nd2 d5 19. f3 gxf3 20. g3 dxe4 21. Qxe4 Nf5 22. Nxf3 {Hunko,G (2054)-Toth,J (2043) Hungary 2006 0-1 (49)}) 8. d4 $146 (8. h3 O-O 9. Ng5 Qd7 10. Nd2 d5 11. Nb3 Bb6 12. c4 h6 13. Nf3 Rf7 14. c5 Ba5 15. Bd2 Bxd2 16. Qxd2 Qe7 17. Rac1 Raf8 18. a3 Nd7 19. Rc2 Qf6 20. Qe2 Qg6 21. Nbd2 Nf6 22. Nh4 Qg5 {Scherbakova,G-Nagorny,D Odessa 2007 1-0 (43)}) 8... exd4 9. cxd4 Bb6 10. d5 exd5 11. exd5 Ne7 {Black threatens to win material: Ne7xd5} 12. Nc3 {White has an active position} O-O { Black castles and improves king safety} 13. Ng5 {Black has a cramped position} Qd7 14. Be3 Bxe3 (14... Ba5 15. Ne6 Rfe8 16. Nf4 $15) 15. fxe3 $11 Ng6 (15... h6 16. Ne6 Rf7 17. e4 $11) 16. e4 (16. Qb3 Rab8 $14) 16... Rfe8 17. Qd3 Re7 18. Qc4 {White has an active position} Ne5 {Black threatens to win material: Ne5xc4 } 19. Qe2 h6 20. Nf3 (20. Ne6 Rf7 $11) 20... Nxf3+ $15 21. Qxf3 Rae8 22. Rae1 Re5 23. Rf2 (23. Qd3 c5 $15) 23... c6 (23... Nxd5 24. Nxd5 Rxd5 25. Qc3 $17) 24. dxc6 bxc6 {Black has new hanging pawns: c6+d6} (24... Qxc6 25. Rd1 $17) 25. Rfe2 Rf8 26. Qd3 Qe6 27. Qa6 Qd7 28. Qa3 (28. Qd3 Rf7 $15) 28... Qc7 $15 29. Qb3+ Kh8 30. Qc4 (30. Qb4 $142 $5 $15 {is noteworthy}) 30... Qb6+ $17 31. Kh1 Ng4 32. h3 (32. g3 $142 $17) 32... Nf6 (32... Nf2+ $142 $5 33. Kh2 Rg5 $17) 33. Qd3 Qb4 {Increasing the pressure on the isolated pawn on e4} (33... Nh5 34. g4 Nf4 35. Qxd6 $17) 34. a3 $11 {White threatens to win material: a3xb4} Qb8 35. Qa6 1/2-1/2